Phase I: III Hazard Zone

Virus B-203

Classified Information:
Data breach: Date known
Retraction form requested

Year 2012: Hour unknown
Date: May 25/26

The moment she stepped into the house, Katie felt her knees getting weak. Although Marisol and Drew quickly held her up from both sides, the girl could not help but let out a strangled gasp. The shelves that littered the floor and the broken glass shattered on the carpet brought her back to the gravity of her situation, and she was frightened. She was in an unprotected house, miles away from help, surrounded by an indefinite amount of the undead. Did she only succeed in leading her best friend and boyfriend into certain death?

Swallowing despite the knot she felt in her throat, she shook her two companions off of her arms, shakily taking a step towards the staircase by the broken television set. One hand tightly grabbing the railing, she made her way upstairs, Marisol and Drew quickly in tow. The carpeted hallway looked almost untouched, except for the debris, and Katie felt hope leap from her stomach to the back of her throat. Looking over to the door so familiar to her, the door that led to the room she shared with her sister, she allowed herself to breathe. Her companions were attempting to smile besides her, but moved back when Katie's hand hovered over the doorknob.

"Maya?" Katie whispered, opening the door with a quick push.

The room was almost in the same condition as it was when she left it. The walls were still the same vanilla white and the floors were still a clean blue with a red floral pattern. The double bunk bed looked to be in perfect condition and there was no hint that anything wrong happened outside of that room. Sitting down on the mattress of her sister's bottom bunk, Katie let out a shaky breath. Where was Maya?

Her eyes caught sight of a small trail of darkened red splotched along the carpet. Following the trail with her eyes, it led to the table her sister used, and then to the closet, which looked a bit broken, although still closed. Walking over to the table first as Drew and Marisol stood by the door, she reached out and picked up a piece of loose leafed paper and she was able to identify her sister's neat handwriting, although it was a bit blurry and rushed on the paper. Blood was splattered across the top of the paper, but it was already dried. Noticing her two companions' curious expressions, Katie took a deep breath and began to read out loud.

"Katie, I'm not sure if you'll find this or if you're even alive, and God I hope you're safe someplace else but is it wrong that I wish you were with me? I went out because I couldn't stay alone here anymore with those screams I always heard outside but when I walked into the back yard, God, it was horrible. It messed up my leg bad and I smashed its head in with Dad's golf club but my leg hurts so bad and I feel really sick and I don't want to be like those things Katie, I don't want to be infected."

Katie wiped the tears forming in her eyes and struggled to continue reading.

"I love you and dad and mom and thank you for all you did for me and I'm so sorry for all the fights we ever had. I don't want to hurt anyone, Katie. You know that's the last thing I ever want to do so I'm going to lock myself up somewhere and hope to God I don't hurt anyone. Katie, I'm scared. Katie, it hurts so much and I can't think clear any-"

The next few words were incomprehensible and Katie shrunk back, wiping her tears on her sleeve before feeling Marisol's arms around her. Drew was at the closet door, and as Marisol comforted the crying Katie, Drew walked towards them with a bundle in his arms.

"It's Maya." Drew whispered, his own tears falling onto the green bundle, "I wrapped her up in a blanket in the closet. You don't want to see her right now. She's hard to recognize, and it's probably not safe to touch her or hold her for too long. Let's bury her. I think she deserves that much."

Katie nodded her head and walked behind Drew back downstairs and into the backyard, quietly folding the letter and slipping it into her front pocket. Katie sat staring down at the grass as Drew and Marisol grabbed shovels from the tool shed in her backyard and dug a hole as quietly and efficiently as they could, understanding that Katie would need some time to think.

The sun was almost setting and the grass looked almost celestial in the hue of the falling sun. Katie could feel herself smile as she stared at the small patch of ground where almost no grass grew and where two flags, one colored a messy red and the other a messy blue, stuck out of the grass, untouched for years. She felt as if it was yesterday that her sister forced her to play a game of War with her.

"Come on, Katie! Please?" Maya begged, grabbing hold of her older sister's leg.

"No, Maya. I'm gonna go to middle school next year and middle schoolers don't play War, okay?"

"Please, please, please? Last time, ever. I promise!" Maya fluttered her round eyes at her older sister, who merely crossed her arms and shook her head with a defiant glare.

"But you love playing War!" Pressed Maya, unable to believe her sister did not want to play War with her.

"Well, I guess, but when you grow, you have to sacrifice things." Katie said in the most mature voice she could muster.

"Please! Katie! Please!" Maya begged, tears beginning to fall from her eyes. Katie could feel her willpower weakening, half because how upset her sister was and half because she wanted to play.

"Fine, fine, don't be a big baby and cry about it, geez. I'll play."

"Yes! Thank you so much! I love you!"

"Yeah, yeah. I get to be red team this time then."

Katie quickly stood up, shaking the memory from her mind as she walked towards the patch of ground and bent over, pulling the handmade flags, which were wearing and tearing from years of weather, from the dirt. Drew and Marisol were about done, lowering Maya's covered body down into the ground, and Katie watched as they poured the dirt back on over her sister. As they finished up, she stuck the flags into the dirt over the body, crying as she remembered all the times she spent with her sister, the good and the bad.

"I'm so sorry I haven't been the best sister. I'm so sorry I don't tell you I love you more often. I'm so sorry you had to die alone. I'm so sorry." She whispered frantically.

Marisol and Drew exchanged mournful glances as their broken friend cried, feeling their own eyes prickling with warm tears, but they could not bring themselves to cry like their friend.

To imagine the loneliness of dying alone, they could not bring themselves to do.

"Sav better be here or I'm going to seriously freak the hell out."

Whispering to the girl currently grabbing tightly onto his arm, Dave slipped the car keys into his pocket and took his and Allie's bags out from the trunk of the car. Throwing the bags over his shoulder, he walked forward, allowing Alli to slip into a comfortable pace besides him. She refused to let go of his arm as they made their way towards the dormitory, although Dave wasn't in the position to complain. He felt like the tight grip Alli had on him was the only thing keeping his mind anchored to reality.

The front door of the dormitory was locked shut. Cursing out loud, Dave jiggled the metal lock that held the door closed, making sure not to be too noisy. He noticed a small scanner by the side of the door and quickly dropped the bags and pulled free from Alli's grip before running towards the front of the parking lot where he saw the body of a fallen professor on his way into the lot. Alli watched from the front of the door as Dave raised and pumped a triumphant hand in the air before running back to his anxious girlfriend, a white card hanging on a lanyard in his hands.

"I used to visit my cousin's campus all the time, and if there's one thing I remember, it's that professors always have id badges that grant them access literally everywhere," he recalled with a smirk, cheering when the scanner beeped in recognition of the card and unlocked the door for the two teenagers.

"Let's hurry." Alli whispered to Dave, who was quick to agree.

"Where's your brother at?" Dave asked as the two rushed through the dark halls of the abandoned dormitory.

"Just follow me. I've been here before." Alli replied.

The two teenagers made their way through various halls and up multiple staircases before they stopped in front of a closed door, the only closed door on the entire floor. Carefully, Dave grabbed the handle of the door, scrunching his nose in disgust when a layer of dust flew up from the unused knob. He tried twisting the knob to no avail and tried pushing in the door with his shoulder. When the door wouldn't budge, he sighed and faced Alli with a frown.

"Are you sure it's here?"

Before Alli could respond, the door flew open and a tired looking Sav ran out, grabbing his little sister in a big bear hug.

"Holy shit, Alli, I was so fucking scared. I thought you died. I thought you-"

Crying, he held on to his sister as she hugged him back with her own tears spilling.

"Sorry I didn't open the door right away. Can't ever be too sure, right?" Sav joked, pulling the two teens inside the room before shutting the door and locking it once again.

The room was not damaged, with two beds on the farthest wall and a desk piled high with cans and bottles. The floor was covered in blankets and pillows and the window was boarded up. A small door next to the desk led to a small bathroom, and despite the daytime, the entire room was shrouded in darkness. A single candle was lit on the corner of the table.

"What's with the blankets?" Dave asked, kicking one of the pillows on the ground.

"Well, it's been a few days since everyone evacuated so I try going to a few rooms a day to try to find something useful, you know?"

"Smart." Alli smiled, hugging her brother again.

"We'll make it through this entire nightmare, I promise." Sav smiled, extending an arm for Dave.

Dave smiled and stepped towards his embrace.

He couldn't help but start doubting him.

"How's Eli doing?" Jake asked, pulling Clare aside.

"He's… doing." Clare replied, running a hand through her hair and sitting down.

"Still not talking?" He asked, taking a seat next to Clare on the couch.

"Not at all. He's out by the lake right now. He wanted to be alone for a little while."

"Don't worry. He can handle himself and it's still day time." Jake quickly reassured, knowing the doubts plaguing the girl's mind.

"I'm not worried about anyone else hurting him." Clare sighed, "I'm worried about him himself."

The two siblings glanced out the small, glass-less window overlooking the lake. The black-haired boy was sitting on a few of the rocks overlooking the lake, his bare feet kicking at the water. Clare wondered what he was thinking. Even when they were dating, she almost never knew what was going through his head. His emotions always seemed to be on polar ends; one moment, he'd react in a calm and controlled manner, and the next day, he'd lash out and get himself into dangerous situations.

"His meds!" Clare quickly exclaimed, "He didn't take them in a while."

"Clare, I'm pretty sure he's depressed because of his parents, no because-"

"I know, I know. I'm just saying it might help him a little bit."

Quickly, Clare rummaged through Eli's bag. For almost ten minutes she searched, refusing Jake's offer to help her. A hand pulled on her shoulder, and in her haste, she yelled.

"Seriously, Jake, stop."

To her surprise, the face staring into hers was not her step-brother's. Eli looked mildly amused, the first sign of any emotion on his face for the past few days.

"You looking for this?"

He shook a small pill bottle, letting it drop into the girl's hands.

"I took one already. My mom used to always be on my back about that. Guess she deserves as much."

Jake stood and took the pill bottle, opting to place it on the counter of the cabin's small kitchen.

"So I've done some serious thinking and I think we should put up a fence around the cabin. Leave a little breathing room for us though. Like a few yards or acres of land for ourselves and just block it off. I know there's a village on the opposite side of the road and that spells trouble for us."

Eli nodded at Jake's suggestion, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Alright. So Eli and I will put up the fencing and Clare can stay her-"

"No. She'll be alone here and we'll be too far off to even hear her if she needs help."

"Eli, I'll be fine."

"No."

Jake hesitated, but noticing the old stubbornness flash in Eli's eyes, he reluctantly agreed.

"Eli's right. You'll come with us. And three people can get more done than two, anyways."

"Always the mathematician, aren't you, Jake?"

Jake ruffled his sister's hair before racing off to grab a few planks from the shed outside. Sighing, Clare grabbed Eli in a quick embrace, a few tears escaping out of the corners of her eyes.

"I'm so sorry…"

His eyes widened in surprise. Honestly, he wanted to cry, to lash out, and to push away the girl for mentioning the very thing he was trying to push out of his head for the past few hours. But there was something about her warmth that calmed him down. It reminded him of when he was younger and how his mother would hold him in a tight, warm hug when he had nightmares. How she'd whisper into his ears that everything would be better in the morning and that she wouldn't leave him. It reminded him how badly he wanted to believe her.

"Don't leave me." He whispered, closing his eyes, lost in Clare's embrace.

"Never."

And for the first time, he believed.

"What have we got?"

As luck would have it, the town was mostly abandoned and the only "zombies" they encountered were already dead or disabled, unable to give a chase. The four teenagers split and looked through the houses for a few hours, meeting back at the town's recreational park with bags filled with whatever salvageable items they could find.

"I found a supermarket and it was completely empty," Fiona smiled, shaking the contents of her bag on the ground, "But I guess looters never thought to check the backroom stocks. Perishable foods are a no-go, but I got lot of cans, boxes, and a few candy bars. Water bottles too."

"Well, I kind of know this town since my cousin used to live here. I went to the rich part of the neighborhood and one of the rich guys had a private car collection in the garage so I grabbed a few canisters of gas. It was really, really heavy so I wasn't able to bring a lot of stuff from the house with me, but I did grab a few batteries, flashlights, candles, and matches, if that helps. Oh, and a few handfuls of bathroom essentials for each of us."

Imogen poured out the contents of her bag next to Fiona's and placed the canisters of gas down. Bianca had two bags; one on her back and one in her hands. She smiled while tossing them down on top of the piles.

"I had a bit of a shopping trip at the nearest thrift stores. The shopping mall is completely impossible to get into, unfortunately, but I got a lot of good clothes for us. The red bag is filled with clothes I thought Adam and I could use and the black bag has clothes for you both. Don't worry; I made sure to grab some underwear and shoes too."

"Unlike you guys, I thought about survival essentials."

Grinning, Adam unzipped his bag and slowly pulled out a few handguns, ammo boxes, and knives.

"My dad used to tell me that a true man has a gun. And a true man with a gun hides them in their closet. Went through like fifty closets but I think I got a few good weapons out of it."

The sun was beginning to set when the four teenagers split their rations between themselves, splitting each of the essentials. The climb back to the outside of the city was even harder with the extra weight of the bags on their shoulders and in their arms, but after a few hours of struggling, the group made it back to their cars.

"Adam, can you get our cars filled up?" Fiona asked to the nodding boy.

The three girls sat on a fallen tree trunk nearby, sipping on water bottles and watching the boy at work.

"Do you think we'll make it?" Fiona asked, doubt clouding her mind.
"Hey, we made it this far. I honestly thought the moment we went inside that city, we'd be ambushed by blood hungry zombies."

"Infected people."

"Yeah, yeah, infected people. My bad."

Rolling her eyes, Bianca watched Adam work, ignoring Fiona and Imogen's conversation. The boy was carefully refilling the gas and checking all the other functions of the car as well, just in case. He had stolen a few extra parts from the abandoned cars and was currently trying to do as much as he could in the limited time that they had. Bianca liked the way his eyebrows were scrunched in concentration and how the oil from the cars marked his face. She was almost as focused on him as he was on the cars. She was so focused that she almost didn't notice the tree behind him shake.

"Adam! Move!"

Bianca was immediately on her feet, watching the boy's eyes widen as he jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the figure that fell out from behind the tree. The figure immediately turned towards Adam again, the foam gathering at its mouth as it lumbered towards the Torres boy.

Frantic, Bianca unzipped one of the bags and reached for a gun, pulling it out before realizing that it wasn't loaded. Cursing under her breath, she pulled out a magazine of bullets. All the while, Adam kept ducking and dodging the figure's attacks. Its eyes were yellow, rolled back, and its skin was white, dry, and beginning to crack. The hair on its head was in thin, long wisps and blood was dried around a few deeper cracks on the thing's body.

"Someone please kill this freaking zombie!" Adam yelled as it lashed at him again.

Imogen was searching through her bag for a weapon as well while Fiona was screaming, petrified to her seat at the sight. The creature was on top of Adam now, foam falling on his shirt as it screeched, hungry for flesh. Bianca finally had the gun prepared and seeing the zombie about to kill Adam scared her.

"Get the fuck off of him!"

Screaming, she shot at the figure, not stopping until its screeching subsided and it fell to its side. Immediately, Imogen and Fiona were at his side, pulling him away from the creature and examining him.

"It didn't get him. It didn't hurt him." Fiona assured Bianca, who was in tears.

"Why is he bleeding? Why is he bleeding? She repeated, pointing at the pool of blood under him.

"One of the bullets hit him. His… his arm." Imogen replied.

"Oh my God, oh my God, I'm so sorry Adam, oh my God." Bianca cried, dropping to her knees and holding his bleeding arm.

"Ah…" Adam gritted his teeth, tears beginning to pool at the edge of his eyes, "It's not s-so bad t-the second time around."

Bianca managed to suppress a grin at his joke.

"Y-you have to get the bullet out. I saw a documentary on this. You gotta get the… the bullet out."

"He's right." Imogen said, voice shaking, "If we don't he can get seriously infected. We had a bottle of alcohol somewhere, right?"

Fiona ran back with a bottle of rum, handing it to Imogen as she poured it on the wound, eliciting a cry from Adam.

From somewhere deep in the forest, the group heard a few screeches.

"T-they heard the gun and t-they smell the blood. We h-have to get out of here." Adam struggled to say, "Get t-the bags in the cars. I was j-just about done anyways."

Bianca and Fiona quickly grabbed the supplies and threw them into the back seats of their individual cars, slamming the hoods of the cars closed while Imogen took care of his wound.

"Adam, this is going to hurt really bad. Just… close your eyes or…"

"Yeah, just do it." Adam replied, clenching his teeth, "Get it over with, please."

"Three… two…"

Adam's scream brought more tears to Bianca's eyes as Imogen quickly tossed aside the bloody bullet and used one of the extra shirts to wrap around his still bleeding wound. Helping him up, she opened the passenger's side door and pushed Adam in before quickly running to Fiona's car. All the while, the screeching of the creatures got louder and louder.

"We have to go. They're getting closer."

As fast as they could, the two drivers pulled out of the small space and rushed back onto the road, speeding until the screeching sounds faded into the distance. When the two cars finally slowed down, Bianca turned her gaze towards the quiet Torres brother, reaching out and grabbing his slack hand.

"I'm sorry, Adam."

"Why are you sorry? You saved my life."

He looked back at her with a smile as she looked back to the road in confusion.

"I should have waited a little longer for a clearer sho-"

"No. If you waited any longer, it would have scratched me or bit me and then died. And then what? What if I got infected? What if I ended up killing Fiona and Imogen and you?"

The two rode in silence a little longer.

"I'm just a little worried I won't be able to use my left hand quite the same again." Adam joked with a grin.

Bianca felt her heart lighten. No matter how bad the situation got, the younger boy always seemed to have something to joke about. She couldn't place her finger on why she felt so frightened at the sight of the boy hurt, but it was the same skip in her heart she felt when he was shot at prom. A part that told her that if he died, she'd never… never… She wasn't sure, but she didn't want to feel that moment of absolute fear ever again.

"You use your right and I'll be your left."

End of Part III.
Awaiting Review.